Last year I rooted some by burying 1ft long cuttings horizontally about 4 inches deep and leaving a small portion above the soil.
I used promix and they stayed in the shade all summer.
They were planted in March and by June they had new growth. Here’s a little guy.
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Thank you for posting! I thought of planting out an issai cutting in this fashion but I wasn’t sure if it would survive.
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A better look at the Issai cutting from the bottle
Meader cuttings
Rosanna
And a honeycrisp cutting, all cuttings started on 2/2/21 no rooting hormone was used on any of them. I’ll pick some up next time to see how it effects the rooting process in water.
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Mine are coming along nicely now. The tug test suggests roots on all of them, but I’ll probably give them another week or two before I pot them up individually. The bag stays open now, and I’ll probably remove it entirely this week.
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I’d like to tell you what I see, Doci.
The first thing and what should always be done when rooting is the buds in the media or other/water should always be knocked off. That’s step #2 for me. This is the order in which I prepare any cuttings:
- fresh cut at the bottom
- buds are knocked off with my knife
- two vertical scraping-cuts on each side of a bud scar are completed
- I dip in rooting hormone.
- the cutting is stuck in the media/water
- the cutting is misted immediately
Your Issai is unfurling leaves while under water. There’s no callus which means at this point there is no root formation, whatsoever.
Meader has none callus. That’s 100% rot. The only way to try and create callus is to cut the bottom off again. And, btw, the whole bottom inch plus is rotting. You’ll need to go up higher for a fresh cut.
Your Honeycrisp (apple? doesn’t matter for now) has callus but, had you prepared the cutting so you had wounds on the stem, you’d have been much better off and would have callus there too, most-likely
Here’s an easy tutorial on rooting for anyone:
Dax
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What substrate is best for rooting hardy kiwi? I had 1/10 with roots last year, then it got mushy. I am trying again, since someone gave me cutting today. If it does not work, I will go back to my plan of buying these.
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You can also try just burying the tip of a vine in the dirt. Less fuss and bother.
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I don’t own the vine, or have access to it later. I will layer when I happen to have my own, works more consistently.
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Just realized I never updated this. I think about a week after the last picture where everything was looking pretty well set, everything went south. Each and every one of them wilted and rotted. It appeared to be a fungal issue. Next time, I’ll make sure to do a bleach bath, and I may just stick them in water to keep it simple.
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DAX, Excellent illustrations for those of us trying to improve our rooting success! Thank You!
I was totally amazed this year (2022-2023) when I tried to tip layer Fuzzy Kiwi in pots - and had scarified the vine at the sides of the bud, rooting hormone, and none of the potted vines rooted, despite having drip irrigation! I see that JSacadura on Youtube recommends a complete girdling of the cambium layer on some plants to promote rooting…when air layering…a growing branch- My air layers on Fuzzy Kiwis largely did not take- including tip layering through pots -
Conversely, I air layer a fig branch and it roots in 3-5 weeks during the growing season.
I have some Hardy Kiwi cuttings taken in November,after leaf drop, potted up and kept indoors and most are leafing out and well rooted in Feb. Other Kiwi cuttings I took and stored in a plastic bag appear to have rotted - likely as the mix was too moist -needed more perlite.
As we are getting a mild winter, I’m waiting to Prune my Kiwis laterals back to 2 buds from the main stem- but I want to wait to do that just as we see some bud swell indicating that sap is flowing in the branch.
Later in the season I will make some additional air layers on new growth- and try both methods- and, I will trim the tip of the branch I am trying to air layer back to 1 growing leaf and 2 node s to root. -
Your scarifying method- both sides , leaving the bud on Figs works extremely well!
I have a 50’ row of 7 Fuzzy Kiwis that are 7 + years old - and it turns out that The “male” I planted with the female was not- a Male- I ordered a Male pollinator last year -2022 - from Edible Landscaping in VA - and planted it last spring- It was a 4’ 1 year old plant- It grew vigorously, and I allowed several side shoots to grow as well- and they all became 12- 14’ long in just 1 growing season-
Ideally, it will flower and pollinate the prolific female vines I have established on a overhead trellis system.
II also made a road trip from NC to Edible landscaping- VA and bought 3 Kiwiberry plants - 1 male, 2 female and set those out last year- along with an ISSAI plant from Monrovia that was supposed to also have a male pollinator vine with it- but I don’t think the Male plant actually survived as when the plant flowered, there were multiple stems- but only female flowers-
Since this particular thread hasn’t seen much activity this past year- but for the benefit of those that search here- My e-mail is Ksowter101@gmail.com . To discuss figs or Kiwis.
You tube videos by Jsacadura are some of the very best propagation
and grafting videos- Just amazing -succinct-
https://www.youtube.com/@JSacadura
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This is acutely off-topic, but think about setting up an intermittent mist system before june. Single bud, single leaf cuttings in 50/50 peat:perlite yielded success in the high 90% range. One year i got 2 generations (rooted cuttings in june, then took and rooted cuttings from that in august) just for fun.
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Something of a resurrection of an old thread, but this seems to be the thread for rooting hardy kiwi. I can start a new one if needed as well. I got a couple branches of Issai and Red Beauty from a friend about 4 weeks ago, cut them up, dipped them in rooting hormone, and stuck them into potting soil. Misted, watered, covered, placed them in a warm but shaded area. This is a picture from when I planted them.
I don’t think any of them are going to make it, 0/34. None of the ones I pulled after dying ever rooted. There are still a few that are hanging on out there but usually if most of my cuttings are dead I don’t hold out much hope for the rest.
My friend said she would be happy to give me more, but before I repeat my mistakes, how do I increase my chances of rooting? I’m thinking I overwatered and got rot, so I definitely will be more careful with the water. I’m also seeing suggestions for bottom heat and more perlite/drainage in the thread, and scoring the bark before dipping in hormone. Any other thoughts?
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Both of these varieties are pretty easy to root by just placing cuttings in water. Change the water every 2-3 days until you see roots. The tricky part is that they will be very susceptible to transplant shock when they go into soil. Keep the humidity as high as possible and gradually harden off to drier air over a couple of weeks.
Just an FYI, Red Beauty is an Arctic kiwi, (A. kolomikta), not a Hardy kiwi (A. arguta) so it will need an Arctic male for fruit.
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Does that work equally well for most hardy kiwis, dormant as well as green cuttings? @ramv gave me some “Melanie” cuttings a few days ago and I’ve been leaving them soaking in water (changed it last night), waiting to see buds break before dipping in hormone and covering in soil. The first few buds started swelling this morning so I was planning to pot them up soon. Should I just keep rooting them in water instead?
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It works for most varieties I have tried, but not all. However, I have not tested that many. Issai is one that is easy and I think most, if not all kolomikta’s will root this way. One variety I have not had much success with is Flowercloud. It’s pretty hard to root, which is surprising since it’s a seedling of Issai.
I rooted some Melanie cuttings unintentionally in water when I was pushing leaves for ploidy testing a few years ago. Most of the cuttings eventually rooted, inspite of my neglect. Melanie turned out to be triploid btw. I would suggest you try some in water and some in soil and see what happens.
Most hardy kiwi will probably root if you just stick long cuttings in the ground with one bud barely sticking out. Keep it shaded with occasional watering and wait until shoots push up from below ground.
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I think I’ll try a few different ways (rooting in water, rooting in perlite, rooting buried in soil) next time! I’m not entirely sure what I did wrong here if they’re as easy to root as you suggest.
I do have an Arctic male! Got him a couple years ago along with a female, but the female didn’t make it through last winter. He isn’t doing amazing… He was small to begin with, and this year he’s only stayed at about a foot tall all year.
For whatever reason I just seem to have a lot of difficulty getting hardy kiwi to thrive 
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Hey @swincher, I simply wrap the top with parafilm, soak the base in dip-n-gro for a minute and stick the cuttings in soil. Near 100% rooting.
Kiwis have a tendency to send out shoots before roots. Dipping in rooting hormone prevents this tendency.
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Second try with Arctic beauty female. Fingers crossed! If people have suggestions I’d be happy to hear it.
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About 6 weeks ago i potted up 15 cuttings of the Russian hardy kiwis (1 male/2 female–anna, andrey, something else). I haven’t looked lately, but the one i checked today had roots, and one i repotted a week ago had roots. I need to go thru some others and see if anything is happening. I used root hormone/kept them shaded and covered with glass to keep everything moist. I’ve done semihardwood cuttings in the past of trees.
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